Denise Duhamel, hailed as one of poetry’s most “raucous and unstoppable young voices,” will give a free public reading of her poetry at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, in Somers Lounge on The College of St. Scholastica campus. Her reading is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

The reading will follow Poets on Poetry, a daylong workshop for high school students hosted by St. Scholastica. Poets on Poetry will be attended by high school teachers and students from schools throughout Minnesota. One hundred students are expected.

"Denise Duhamel is the best sort of poet, inclusive and challenging, accessible and willing to risk it,” said Ryan Vine, the event's organizer. “Her poems splash across the page; there isn't a thing they're afraid of containing."

Vine is an assistant professor of English at St. Scholastica and author of “Distant Engines,” a chapbook of poetry that won the 2005 Weldon Kees Award. His award-winning poems have appeared in numerous regional and national journals, including Natural Bridge and Sonora Review.

Duhamel is the author of 13 collections of poetry, including her most recent titles, “Two and Two” and “Mille et un sentiments.” Both were published in 2005.

Her poems have been featured in over 50 anthologies, including several of the “Best American Poetry” series, and nearly every significant literary journal published in the United States. She has served as poet-in-residence at Bucknell University, The American University and the University of Pittsburgh. She has taught at Rutgers University and in the Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa.

Currently she is an associate professor of English at Florida State University.

Duhamel will begin the Poets on Poetry morning session with a keynote address and short reading. Small-group breakout sessions will follow, led by local and nationally known poets including Connie Wanek, Jim Johnson, Karyn Crispo Jones and Erik Tschekunow.

Poets on Poetry is made possible by a grant from the Rose Warner Foundation.

For more information contact Ryan Vine at rvine@css.edu or (218) 723-6606.